Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - September 2009

We regularly publish a summary of reports compiled by our twelve regional Agents following discussions with at least 700 businesses across the UK every reporting period.

Published on
22 September 2009

Consumer spending had grown modestly.

The recovery in housing market activity had continued.

Investment intentions remained weak, though somewhat less so than at the trough of the recession.

The rate of contraction in export volumes had slowed.

The extent of de-stocking had continued to moderate and the majority of contacts now judged the de-stocking cycle to be drawing to a close.

There was more evidence that manufacturing and service sector output had stabilised. Construction activity had continued to shrink.

While some larger firms had made successful rights issues, a significant number of small firms had continued to encounter difficulties in securing bank funding.

Employment intentions were less negative than earlier in the year — a growing proportion of contacts judged that the cuts in staffing they had already made would be sufficient so long as demand conditions did not deteriorate.

Per capita labour costs remained lower than the same period a year earlier. Annual inflation in materials costs had eased further.

Spare capacity had continued to press down on prices of business services and manufactured output — both of which were lower than the same period a year earlier.

Consumer goods and services price inflation remained low but positive. Over the past few months, the scope of promotional activity had been scaled back as retailers had cleared excess stocks.

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